Meeting crowd expresses impatience about Acreage cancer-cause tests

Tests are coming, we promise, state health officials said. We are getting federal help, they said.

That wasn't enough for the crowd of more than 800 people on edge Tuesday over whether they ever will find out whether something has caused The Acreage's pediatric brain cancer cluster.

Tell us what to do right now, residents pleaded.

"How are we expected to live?" asked Acreage mother Tammi Olivier, 35. "I don't want to wake up anymore and feel paranoid. How can I go to sleep at night?"

Another mother said her son's brain cancer case wasn't included the study but that it should have been.

Many residents asked about adult brain cancer rates, which state health officials have said aren't above statistically significant levels.

And residents called for environmental testing at homes across The Acreage, not just at the homes the investigation zeroed in on.

A crowd of at least 30 people was outside the Seminole Ridge High School auditorium by 5:40 p.m. for the meeting at 6, shielding themselves from the rain with umbrellas. By 6:15, the 844-person capacity room was nearly full. By 6:30, almost every seat was full and people lined the walls.

About 100 people were outside.

"We got locked out and we are unable to hear anything," said Marlene Simpson, 50.

After a week of mixed messages from the state Department of Health, this semirural community was eager to get clear information about the investigation that revealed the problem and what would come next.

The Palm Beach County Health Department, a division of the state health department, scheduled the meeting to update residents about its second phase of studying the cancers.

Since June, health officials have been investigating whether Acreage residents are experiencing higher rates of brain tumors and cancer than normal.

Results released Feb. 1 confirmed they are. The results, which recalculated population in The Acreage, show "significantly elevated" brain and central nervous system cancers among children and teenagers, particularly girls.

About two or three cases of childhood brain cancer would have been expected from 2002 through 2007, but the community had five.

One or two cases of brain cancer would have been expected in girls during that time period, but the community had four.

Dr. Shairi Turner, the state's deputy secretary for health, said officials from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are coming to the state health department next week to consult on the cancer issue.

County health department spokesman Tim O'Connor said state radiation officials will be in the community within the next 10 days to do radiation testing. He didn't elaborate.

Several residents called for making public water available.

Despite acknowledging that well water might not be to blame for the cancer spike, County Commissioner Jess Santamaria and Indian Trail Improvement District Board President Michelle Damone sent a letter to Gov. Charlie Crist asking for help in finding financial assistance for public water.

Several state legislators participated in the meeting via live video feed. They included Reps. Joe Abruzzo, Mack Bernard and Mark Pafford.

The crowd erupted in cheers when state Sen. Dave Aronberg, also on live video feed, disputed state officials' speculation last week that broader societal ills might to be to blame for the cancers.

"It's not in our minds. It's reality," said Aronberg. "This is more than just cell phones and diet soda."

Palm Beach County Health Director Dr. Alina Alonso, who bore the brunt of criticism last week for saying the state didn't plan to pursue genetic or environmental tests, was conspicuously absent from the panel, which included state health and environmental officials. She was in the audience.

State officials tried to allay residents' fear about radiation.

Tests that the state Department of Environmental Protection conducted last year at 50 private wells in The Acreage showed elevated radiation levels at several homes. Still, environmental officials said the community's water was generally good.

"Radiation is ubiquitous," said John Williamson, an administrator with the state health department's Bureau of Radiation.

That was little comfort to residents.

Resident Greg Dunsford, whose wife called for the investigation, was one of several residents who questioned why the state hadn't honed in on adult brain cancer rates, which his research shows are elevated.

State epidemiologist Sharon Watkins said that despite the state's preliminary report last year showing some elevations in all types of adult cancers, updated population analysis did not support that anymore and that adult brain cancers aren't elevated.

Watkins also said that the pediatric brain cancers, defined as those up to 19 years of age, were not confined to one part of the 110-square-mile Acreage.

The state expects to finish its second phase of investigating by mid-March.